Welcome to Inside Comm’, the podcast in which I explore the internal communication landscape!
I’m Hélène Renaud, the host of this podcast. You’ll get to know me throughout these episodes where I alternate between shorter episodes with some quick tips & tricks and slightly longer episodes where I discuss with internal communicators some best practices and some of their inspiring projects.
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Ideas for successful remote onboarding
Corona or not, onboarding a new employee remains a difficult process that requires a lot of planning.
This is a crucial step if you want to give them every opportunity to start off on the right foot and build a healthy, long-term relationship.
It’s not enough to simply make a phone call and send the paperwork. It takes a lot more preparation and the HR department needs to work closely with the internal communication department for the experience to be a success.
And YES, this step is the actual beginning of the employee experience. Or at least, it gives the employee early impressions of the company, apart from the recruitment process.
So handle this arrival carefully!
Tip #1: Give them what they need
My first piece of advice is to send all the material your new employee will need to their home a few days before the contract starts. This will reassure them, as they can familiarise themselves with their new work tools before D-day!
If you have some personalised goodies, go ahead and slip them into the package! Everyone loves surprises, don’t they?
One small practical detail is also to provide the contact details of your IT manager in case there are problems installing equipment. This will reduce the risk of stress if something goes wrong!
Tip #2: Introduce them
Back when we were in the office, announcements of newcomers were more spontaneous and chats at the coffee machine were usually enough to get to know them. But with times as they are, nowadays prevention is better than cure… and this is my second piece of advice!
A few weeks before your new recruit arrives, don’t forget to send an email to their future team to introduce the newcomer. This email is also an ideal opportunity for summing up their position and describing their tasks.
Tip #3: Create touchpoints
As a 3rd point, I’d like to draw your attention to communication between people. You can for example increase the number of discussion touchpoints. The more, the better. This will really help avoid that feeling of isolation when working remotely and when first joining a company. Remember that feeling of starting the year off in a new school?
These touchpoints can take place between managers and those managed. By organising meetings to get to know people and explain who does what. More informally, you can organise special e-coffee breaks to welcome the bright-eyed newcomer.
Why not set up a mentor or buddy system, as I talked about in episode 7!
As you well know… 2020 has been a year of firsts! So give it a go, if you haven’t already!
Tip #4: Be clear
To finish, my 4th tip, as an internal communicator, is: don’t hold back from documenting and sharing information on your company. How it operates, how is it organised, what are its specialist areas.
Let me explain. Why not create a library available on the intranet with fun and practical explanations of the different jobs people do in your company? Do “job swaps” with certain roles or produce lexicons based on the jargon you use. Flagship projects could also be listed to keep track of the challenges taken on by teams.
Aside from the COVID situation, it would be a real asset to create such a library of knowledge and expertise for all employees who are specialists in their own field but who may never dare to ask questions for fear of appearing silly!
So really it will benefit everyone in the end 🙂
There we have it! I hope you find these tips useful!
In that case, feel free to share this episode or let me know!
See you soon for another episode!
By Hélène Renaud
